Cape & Islands State Senator

Friday

Sitting in the front living room of his North Harwich antique farmhouse on an early October Friday morning, you sense Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) is mentally checking off his schedule for the day.

With no opponent on horizon, it’s clear flying into Wolf’s second term

Sitting in the front living room of his North Harwich antique farmhouse on an early October Friday morning, you sense Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) is mentally checking off his schedule for the day.

It’s busy but not as harried as it could be, for at the end of his first term as Cape and Islands State Senator, Wolf has the luxury of not having to face an opponent at the polls this November, with neither the Republicans nor any other party, for that matter, pitting anyone against him.

“I think there was so much focus being put on the state’s U.S. Senate race as well as the presidential election, it has taken a lot of the attention off some local races,” said Wolf. “There isn’t much of a buzz for any race other than those higher ones.”

That might be his modest reasoning for the unopposed candidacy, or it might be that Wolf has fit in so nicely as the region’s senator that he’s earned bipartisan and independent support from all quarters, creating for himself a very satisfied constituency.

“It has been an incredible blessing for me to serve this state and especially the Cape and Islands,” said the senator. “In my job as CEO of Cape Air, I have traveled to a lot of places around the country, and I have found no place I would ever want to trade places with. The Cape has such a great mix of heart and its values create a unique essence for a small community atmosphere, when we add to that the amount of influential capital, the creative environment and amazing amount of intellects we have living around us, and it’s easy to see how that makes the Cape so desirable.”

Wolf, whom you might call a “fly-ashore,” nurtured his love for the Cape while summer vacationing his whole life here with his family. After college he earned his private, commercial and instructor pilot’s licenses at Chatham Airport and in Hyannis. In 1988 he founded Cape Air, with only one plane and himself behind its controls. He flew one route, Provincetown to Boston, three times a day. Wolf has grown Cape Air, which he turned into an employee owned company in 1995, into a solid regional airline, transporting over 700,000 people a year both national and internationally. And the company that started as one now has about 1,000 employees.

He claims that moving from the business boardroom into the political arena was made easier because he already knew most of the businessmen making up what he calls “the core of strong leadership” in the Cape’s business community. Clearly he realizes as they do that there has to be a link between the Cape’s environment and its economy.

“I think I’ve spent the first two years watching and learning the State House “culture,” said Wolf. “I think I’m starting the second term with a lot better understanding how the processes work.”

With a little more Beacon Hill experience, he’s ready to tackle a myriad of issues – the Cape’s wastewater issues, renewable energy, health care and homeowners’ insurance are a few of the issues appearing on the senator’s radar. An issue he feels is extremely important to the region is the issue of relicensing the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant. Built in 1972, the aging power plant has experienced some nagging equipment issues. After 40 years the plant’s operating license came up for renewal for the first time this year, and the plant’s owner, Entergy Corp., requested and was granted a 20-year extension.

“I have great concern over the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant,” said Wolf. “It is a very old nuclear power plant starting to show signs of age. One of the things that is really bothersome is the plant’s storage of the spent nuclear fuel. It’s contained in a 40-year-old storage pool, which is basically just a rebar steel-enforced cement tank. I have crawled around the plant, there are many signs of old age, but the spent fuel storage is the most concerning.”

The issue is especially problematic since the federal government has not decided on a place for the nuclear waste to be deposited; it was originally planned to go to the Yucca Mountain disposal site but that program was defunded.

“I really think it’s unfair if we leave it to our kids to deal with a 60-year-old power plant. I think that plant needs to be managed better, the evacuation plan doesn’t work and the older the plant gets the bigger the risk,” said Wolf.

“There are many very important issues for our region to deal with,” said the senator. “As a politician I could not be more fully engaged to deal with them.”

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